Mark

The attack on Mercy Masika on behalf of the church, instead of directly addressing the church leaders who officially speak on its behalf, is so unfair. Attacking one woman on behalf of a whole institution that is run by men is not just overkill, it's attacking one woman in the name of concern for women. And Mercy didn't even offer that master class on behalf of the institutional church. She did it based on her own experience as a wife. So even the demand for husband master classes is unfair. Mercy is offering her own experience as a wife as the template for the class. That's what a master class means in the arts, and she's an artist. The offer of a master class is the opportunity to sit at the feet of someone with experience. She's offering her experience as a teaching template. She's of the church, but she's not officially representing the church. But lately, there seems to be a coordinated attack on women who don't fit in the neoliberal, donor funded feminist narrative of women as a-political victims of men. It's an attack on politics, on limiting political ideas, and I would dare say radical, anti-imperialist politics, through ensuring women's political participation is boxed into one narrative of representational politics. The point to close the door on ALL politics so that a particular one doesn't slip through. This attack has gone up a notch since Sifuna emerged on the scene. Apparently, until recently, the Kamala push (for a woman candidate for president or deputy) was considered a done deal, and Kenyans, women included, have prioritized change over representational politics. Representational politics is when the presence of a certain identity in politics, be it ethnicity or gender, is offered to be a political shift in things that matter (power, ideology, economy, resources). Kinda like independence where getting black leaders was supposed to end colonialism. So as the politicians try to contain the damage of Sifuna with those narratives of him being too poor, too young, not ethnically endorsed, the activists push for the consolidation of a uniform women's position to negotiate with politically. So if you are a woman who steps outside the liberal, secular position, you find your masterclasses being turned into memes and videos being made telling you to take responsibility for an institution which, ironically, your accusers call patriarchal and exclusionary to women. So you wonder how Mercy is supposed to answer for the church if the church excludes women.